Crossroads
by Isabelle Sumner
Summary: We're not always the heroes of our own stories. Sometimes, we stand and watch by the sideline. Sometimes, we do not get what we want. But in the end, we remain strong; not because we can but because we have to. Bruce Wayne X OC. Set right after TDK.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except the OC'S such as Marie and Amanda, the other characters belong to their owner etc.**

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 **Chapter One**

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Keen eyes stared at the people passing by, not even giving a sideways glance. Dreams, hopes, depression, anxiety, happiness and many more feelings trotted by on the sunny sidewalk. People in their own world, with their own plans for their life. She saw it all: what the man in the hideous Tweed suit had had for lunch, that the jogging girl in tight yoga pants was having an affair with her boyfriend's brother, that the lost mother keeping track of her three little boys has an abusive husband who hit her. These things she saw, these things she tried to ignore. These observations tended to ruin everything for her.

The hot sun warmed the bustling streets of Gotham, it was a Monday afternoon. Kids were getting out from school. Those businessmen or women that worked late were out for lunch, carrying overstuffed briefcases, strutting around in expensive business suits and talking in their smartphones, mostly it tended to be work-related or gossip. She didn't know why but usually those who worked in business gossiped more, not that there were a few exceptions.

She continued drinking her soda, trying to ignore the people surrounding her, observing tended to dull the mood and she always found out something she didn't want to know. The observing eyes of the young woman drifted to the busy traffic of the crossroad before the café she was sitting at, if that yellow cab continued driving at its current speed it would crash into the black Volvo that was currently slowing down to change lanes. A few seconds later her prediction came true. It was a smaller crash than she had thought but it caused a dramatic scene. No one was hurt, however the curious Gothamites took a break from their little lives to see what had just occurred before them. The fat, middle aged man who had been driving the cab stepped out shouting at the young man driving the black Volvo. They continued to shout, drawing more attention to them. People were discreet enough to not stop and stare like idiots at the scene but many glances were cast into that general direction. The woman sighed, she guessed that the slight calm she had gotten from her break was over due to the stupid accident. She felt the urge to go up to the two arguing men and tell them what had really happened, that the man in the Volvo had forgotten to put on his turn lights, that the man in the cab was driving 10 mph over speed limit while talking to the young blonde that was sitting in the back, no doubt trying to impress her with some lame concocted story about himself or some exploit he had done. However she didn't intervene. She got her leather brown, slightly torn bag and threw it over her left shoulder, the woman walked away, letting the men solve their problems on their own, they were after all grown men, not five.

The august weather agreed with her as she slowly strolled along the main street, not really wanting to get back to work, dragging out every last second of her late lunch break. She didn't want to return to the three walled cubicle and spend another five hours there. Working as a phone salesman had to be one of the worst jobs ever invented, it consumed your soul till the point where the person stopped caring. As she walked into the vast, brick building she sent a quick smile toward the guard who stood by the revolving doors on the inside. He didn't smile back. He never did. She shrugged and figured that she would keep at it, maybe someday receiving a smile back. She walked by the receptionist and gave her the same inviting smile. To her surprise the redhead smiled back, it was the first time a stranger she had smiled at had returned the gesture. These random little acts made her feel like she took a pause from routine and did something that she normally wouldn't do. While striding toward the elevator the woman took a small skip out of joy. It was true that telecommunicating drained and tore at the soul, still she had managed to persevere, even after working with it for three years.

The ringing of the telephones sounded louder than usual as she got out on the fifth floor. She walked down the hall, her head down, and she quickly made it to her little cubicle unnoticed. She started ringing up the people on her list, encountering annoyed people, sad people, happy people, regretful people and so on, on the other line. Still, she was good at what she did and usually managed to sell the product. Brown shoes walked by her little office, stopped and doubled back.

"Walker, fix the printing machine will you?" Said the thin man while pushing up his glasses on his crooked nose. That did it, as soon as he had said her name, people started noticing that she had returned and requests and demands boomed over the cubicles. People came to her with lists of things that needed to be done, " _Marie_ do this, _Mary_ do that." Most of them usually said her name wrong or just used her last name in a demeaning manner. However she took all the requests and demands and started working on them. Marie had gotten enough done for the day so she wouldn't feel stressed about not finishing her long list of calls. She was not in the IT department but people knew that she was gifted with technology, not as good as the IT guys, but she was only a shout away while the IT guys usually had to be called and then people had to wait an awful long time. If Marie knew something it was that her coworkers hated waiting. Her presence in the office was a big comfort for them, allowing them to get lazy and usually push big or minor work problems on her, because she would solve them, because she let herself be ordered around against her better judgment. As she was on her knees, fixing the wiring of the printer the thought of getting another job and start anew flashed through her tired mind as it had done many times. But like every time the thought had popped into her head she knew she would not do it. She was a creature of habit and the thought of making such a big change scared her.

The rest of the day went by in the same manner and soon, like always, she was the only one left in the building working on the requests of her co-workers. She was tired, sweaty and had a headache by the time she got out of the elevator. The same guard that she had smiled at stood by the door. This time Marie only managed to lift the corners of her mouth, giving a pathetic grin. The guard didn't respond and kept staring forward. She figured that he thought she was into him, which was as far from the truth you could get. She knew the tall man had a loving wife and a small daughter or son judging by the faint baby food stains he had tried to wash off the uniform.

"Try using vinegar on the stains next time, it's cheaper and better for the environment." She causally said as she walked past him. Marie couldn't ignore the beating heart as she spoke the words. The guard widened his eyes but said nothing, no doubt wondering how she knew about the difficult stains. Marie stepped out into the warm evening.

She wasn't a shy woman, but not straightforward either, however during the years she had been working for Marcel's & Co. she had developed a shyness, probably from letting people push her around so much. Marie hurried down the street and continued walking for fifteen minutes until she reached her block. It wasn't far from the center and from work. The restored 20´s buildings gave the neighborhood quite the charm. She took out her bundle of keys and unlocked the big metal door, walking into the cool lobby of the complex. The elevator was on the highest floor and since she only lived on the third she felt it unnecessary to push the button and wait when she could take the red carpeted marble stairs. Marie reached her floor and unlocked the elegant wooden door, stepping into her dark hallway. She turned on the lights and walked through the narrow hallway to the table at the end were she dropped the keys with a rustling sound, on the chair by the table she but her brown bag, she tiredly kicked of her nude heels and released her long hair from the tight bun, letting the untamed waves cascade over her aching back. Marie sighed as she looked about the apartment, it was eight in the evening and she still had to do the rest of the dishes, sweep the floors and finish her laundry. She pushed up the wrinkled sleeves of the white dress shirt to her elbows and started with her chores, all the while humming some tune to a song she didn't really remember the name of. When she was done she unbuttoned the shirt and unzipped her dark green pants, throwing them into the laundry bin, Marie got a glass of soda and some bread and opened her French balcony doors stepping out into the young night, feeling the summer breeze caress her sweaty brow. She was too tired to take a shower and argued that she could do it in the morning. After standing in her underwear for a while she felt cold and returned back into the cozy apartment. Marie put the empty glass in the now clean sink and threw the bra into the laundry bin as well. She walked, semi naked to her room and got her favorite pajamas, a light pink oversized shirt and matching shorts. She got her white laptop and got under the white covers of her bed while turning the computer on. She checked her mail, filled with messages from co-workers, asking her to help them with this and that. She replied to a few and soon felt herself yawning until her eyes watered. She shut down the computer and turned on the television, watching the eleven news as always before falling asleep.

The breaking news banner was up with a picture of Harvey Dent, the District Attorney of Gotham. She had met him once, but he probably didn´t remember her. Marie didn't know what to think of the man. He had a strong personality, probably necessary in his line of work, but the kind of man he was, was usually easy to play with when it came to emotions. He was loud about his opinions, overprotective of those he cared about, also putting everything into those closest to him, she knew that getting that attached could be dangerous. Marie had not voted for Dent for that reason, not because of his ideals, which were in her opinion good, but because of how he was, such an unstable person shouldn't have that kind of power.

Marie rose an eyebrow as the death of Harvey Dent was announced. She wasn't surprised, he had gone up against some influential and strong people. When the anchorman announced that Dent had been killed by the bat vigilante she had to widen her eyes and sit up straight. During the next few minutes she listened closely as he recited the incident, bringing Gordon up as a witness as well as his family, too shaken to give any further comments. The anchorman announced that the police was still charging after the murderer. 'Murderer' she thought. She knew what most of the Gothamites must be thinking at this time. They probably "saw it coming" because the Batman was "such an unstable man". The man was a vigilante after all. However it was so obvious that there was more too it. When Gordon had given his statement to the camera he kept running his hand through his hair. Gordon was lying about something. However she was too tired to figure out what it was. Marie turned off the television and buried herself under the comforting blankets. She didn't feel like digging in any of it either, it wasn't her business and she didn't want to get into trouble. So she fell asleep, fast, without a worry on her mind.

Office was chaos when she arrived the early Tuesday morning. Marie didn't bother to ask. She had seen the seven o'clock news before leaving. It had retold the death of Harvey Dent and the capture of the criminal 'Joker'. Everywhere people were whispering by their cubicles, excited, afraid or worried. She found it vaguely distracting while working but soon came to appreciate the gossip that held everyone occupied because that made them leave her alone. When the clock reached twelve she sighed and stretched out her tired body. Two hours earlier the talking people had returned to their telecommunicating, which meant more work for her. Marie frowned as she saw the huge stack of unfiled papers in front of her. It wasn't her job to do it but since the man that usually did it was "sick" she had gotten the strenuous task. It had gotten warm in her navy blue sweater so she pulled of, revealing a wrinkly dress shirt. She unbuttoned the first button and glanced at the clock, Marie reasoned that if she got through half of the stack before 1 P.M she could have an hour break for lunch. She sighed and reached for a pencil to start sorting the papers. It was hard because she could hardly distinguish the unreadable scribbles as words. She wondered how James did it. James was apparently kind of a big deal in the office, he was the one who should have done this but as usual he was home sick. It took Marie three days to figure out that when James Andersen was home "sick" he was usually spending his day in boxers, with a beer always in his hand and as much junk food anyone could inhale in the course of a day. No doubt that he either watched porn or crap TV. James may be the high school jock at the office, probably able to get in bed with most of his female workers. Marie could see why, he was lazy yes, but he did his best to hide it well. He was tall, probably strong, however not to the point where his muscles were excessively defined. He had a nice smile and otherwise handsome features. But James was a rather lonely man and Marie could see that he liked it that way. Usually he was nice to her, he only said a few short words like "how's your day going" or "great weather we're having". It was more than anyone else said to her. Marie knew that he pitied her and that was mostly the reason he interacted with her. Still, at least they talked.

However on this particular day Marie was not too fond of him, he had left her so much paperwork that she would have to sit until Christmas. She began sorting the files and in record time she was done with a third of it. Her weary eyes looked at the computer clock that read 1:47 P.M. Marie dropped her head in her hands in frustration. Someone stopped by her office and asked for the faxing machine to be looked at because it was acting up again. Marie seriously considered telling the woman to leave her alone or she would tell the office that her Louis Vuitton bag was actually a well done rip off that she had gotten from the Chinese store by the west side of the Narrows. However Marie didn't, she sighed internally, stood up and looked at the floor while saying

"Of course Mrs. Williams." Her voice sounding pathetic. Mrs. Williams strutted out of the sad little cubicle. Marie never got to eat her lunch so by 10:31 P.M, when she finally got out of the building, her stomach sounded like it contained an earthquake large enough to destroy the whole country. She sprinted toward her house, followed her routine of cleaning and doing laundry, eating and watching TV. When Marie slipped into bed at midnight she started to wonder if perhaps this line of work would eventually eat away at her.

As her tired eyes began shutting there was a loud noise streaming in from her opened window. The young woman, irritated, turned her back on it. She guessed it was some drunk. A few of the big, five star restaurants were only a few blocks from her neighborhood and it happened on rare occasions that a few wealthy costumers would stroll by, sometimes drunk. They usually didn't make any big fuss, it wasn't the Narrows after all. The angry shouts continued. It was a female voice and the words seemed to grow louder and louder. Finally, out of sheer curiosity Marie got out of bed and looked down on her street. The streetlamps unveiled a rather amusing scene to her. She saw a black limousine. Two people were standing by it. A black haired woman with amazingly perfect hair, a beautiful light blue satin dress that fawned out at her back. Her neck was adorned with jewels that Marie couldn't see the details of. He woman held herself with a grace and poise that Marie wished she had. By her stood, or rather leaned a rather tall man. His water combed hair had fallen forward into his face and the elegant suit he was wearing was wrinkled. The well-dressed man appeared to be drunk as he rambled some incoherent words at the beautiful woman before him. She shook him and told him to get a grip. The man sighed and stumbled into the limousine. To her amazement the man shut the door after him and the car drove away, leaving the woman all alone. Marie watched as the woman bellow her looked around and hugged herself. No doubt she knew the predicament she was in, it might be the center of Gotham but it was still Gotham. The woman would probably be robbed by the next corner with all the accessories that so invitingly hanged on her neck, just waiting to be taken. Marie bit her lip as the woman sat down on the small steps leading up to the big double iron doors. She could call her a cab and get her to wherever she lived. Marie decided to act when she heard the sobs of the female. She put on her long, white cotton robe and tennis shoes and got her keys and her phone. Marie quickly walked down the steps and hesitated before opening the door. It had been clear to her that it was a scene she should not have witnessed and Marie wasn't sure how the woman would react. Most likely she would accept her offer of a cab and not look her in the eye. That was what Marie preferred, to avoid an awkward situation. She paused on the handle, yes, that would probably be the most probable outcome.

The young woman turned around as Marie opened the door. She got up and smoothed out the beautiful dress and dried the tears as Marie walked down the steps. The woman before her could be no more than 25 or 26, making her no more than one or two years younger than Marie who now stood perplexed, not really knowing what to say.

"I guess you saw that huh?" Marie nodded as the tension was slowly broken, but she didn't know what to say. As she had gotten closer to the woman she had recognized her. She was Amanda Ross, a supermodel whose photo usually was on the front page of the fashion magazines. Marie had seen her photos a few time walking by the small kiosk before getting to her favorite café. Amanda shifted uncomfortably at Marie's silence.

"Is it to rude of me to ask to come up? These heels are killing me and I really have to use the bathroom." It had not been the outcome Marie had expected but the turn of events were nonetheless interesting.

"Of course." She simply said, in what to her sounded like a flat tone. Amanda followed suit after Marie as they walked up the three flight of stairs, getting to her apartment. Marie directed her to the bathroom and placed the high heels in the narrow hallway. When Amanda got out she had wiped away the dark makeup that had smeared all over her cheeks from her crying. Her eyes didn't look so red and puffy anymore. The women both stood, looking at each other. Marie didn't know what to say, what do you say to a supermodel?

"Can I get you anything?" She finally said.

"Tea would be nice." Amanda said, casually strolling toward the couch and sitting down on it looking around. "Quite the place you have here." Marie could feel herself smile and went to make them both some tea. A few minutes later both of them sat in the beige couch and sipped on the hot liquid.

"I guess I shouldn't ask but…"

"Oh why the hell not, I've been waiting for you to since you stepped out of that door. I need to blow off some steam!" Amanda sneered, not at her but at what had happened minutes before. "I guess one never learns with men." She said, putting the cup down and gracefully pushing her long hair over her shoulder.

"It was getting a little too heated in the car if you know what I mean. That man cannot hold his liquor, I bet other things about him are true too." She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Marie wondered why the woman before her lied. Amanda had not gotten any "action" with that man, he had probably not even kissed her, her lipstick wasn't even smeared, her hair was in too a perfect condition and her face was not flushed, her lips not even puffy. Marie guessed that whomever she was with was someone of high status or Amanda would not try to keep appearances up.

"Who was with you?" Marie asked finally, after not being able to deduce who the man had been.

"Bruce Wayne." Amanda tried to say casually but there was a hint of pride, pride that she had gotten a date with the most famous person in Gotham society at the moment. Amanda locked eyes with the woman before, studying her reaction. To her surprise the blonde didn't react, in fact she even looked unimpressed, more understanding.

"Oh, that explains a few things." Marie muttered in sudden realization, feeling how Amanda looked at her with surprise plastered all over her face.

"What things?" Amanda asked.

"I have never met this man in person but from what I've read and heard he tends to act this way. But I would never imagine Bruce Wayne as someone to just leave a defenseless woman in the middle of the street at midnight in Gotham." Marie said, thoughtful. There was something amiss, something she had yet to see to fully understand the whole situation. It was like a puzzle to her and she had yet not found all of the pieces.

"Well," Amanda began, almost feeling like she had to defend the man, knowing that the woman before spoke the truth. "To be honest I kind of made him take me out. He didn't want too, in fact he was so drunk this morning that he couldn't even get out of bed. When the alcohol wore off he still looked terrible, like he had taken an awful beating." Amanda continued, not really sure why she was telling this to the woman before her. The blonde did not look like the sort that would tattle away to the press so she guessed that she did it because it felt good to confide in anyone that would look at the whole thing more objectively than say her friends or colleagues who would probably just judge her.

"I heard he lost a friend a few days ago. Maybe it hit harder than I thought it had. I didn't know they were so close." Amanda was lost in thought. Marie saw that the young woman had started blaming herself and didn't know what to say to her to make herself feel better.

"Oh god! I shouldn't have pressed him like that. It was so stupid of me! He probably hates me right now." She said, placing her head in her hands.

"That still doesn't justify what he did and besides, his driver should have had more sense in him than his employer." Yes, something was definitely amiss. Marie looked at the woman in front of her, she felt sorry for her. Both of them were so different but somehow their problems seemed similar.

"The thing is, I was the one who told him to leave me on the street. I didn't want to spend another minute in his presence." Amanda finally sighed.

"Oh," Marie trailed off. Suddenly everything made sense. "That was pretty stupid." She said without thinking and immediately regretted it.

"I know. I do that sometimes." Amanda looked down at the big, blue ceramic cup. "I never got your name Miss…?" she trailed off, hoping that the shorter woman would fill in the empty space. The tired blue eyes stared back at her.

"Walker, Marie Walker." She said, barely suppressing a yawn. That was when Amanda realized that it must have been later than she thought.

"I am so sorry to have kept you up with my useless babble Ms. Walker. If you let me borrow your phone I will call a cab to take me to Bruce's penthouse." Marie looked at the woman as if she were stupid. She gathered the cotton robe around her and rose from her couch walking to her room and picked out her finest looking flannel pajamas that she never used. Marie returned to the room and looked at the floor.

"I don't want to get in the way between you and Mr. Wayne but in the state you seem to be in I think it best if you go there tomorrow. You can stay here if you want." Marie paused and locked eyes with the beautiful woman before her. "Tomorrow I'll accompany you to wherever you need to go if you want." Amanda felt a little tear form in her eye and a strange knot started growing in her stomach. No one had ever showed this much compassion for her and yet this woman that she had known for less than ten minutes offered to share what she had. It could also be a trap, Marie Walker might want something more from Amanda, however after eyeing the woman she did not think that possible. If she did, Amanda would outsmart her. She wouldn't let herself be played around with.

"Thank you." She simply said smiling and accepting the pajamas. Marie smiled as well, she felt a little bad for using the woman in front of her but the curiosity was tugging hard at the back of her mind and if Marie might get just one glance at Mr. Wayne she knew she could figure out the missing piece in the puzzle and then get some peace. Marie prepared the couch for Amanda and when the black-haired woman had changed into the too short pajamas she remembered something.

"Here I am, a stranger in your house and you don't even know my name." Amanda said. She extended a hand toward Marie and smiled. "Amanda Ross." Marie shook her hand and nodded.

"Goodnight Ms. Ross." She said, walking toward her room, longing to get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Amanda wore her clothes in such a different manner. Marie understood that she had chosen modelling as her career because it suited her. The plain black skirt and white dressing shirt looked exclusive and classy on Amanda. They didn't say much when sitting in the taxi and both answered awkwardly whenever the enthusiastic driver tried to make conversation, which was often. Marie had heard Amanda cry during the night, she had felt bad about it but let the young woman be, she figured that it wasn't her place to comfort her. Besides, Marie had the worst social skills ever observed in human history. She wouldn't even know where to start if she'd been forced to comfort Amanda. She didn't feel an ounce of guilt about it either, the woman before her had after all spent the night at her place and even managed to drag her 20 minutes across town to accompany her to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. As the taxi stopped Marie figured that she would have to walk to the nearest bus-station, she would be late for work for the first time in three years, just because she couldn't say no to Amanda's request. As they got out on to the sunlit sidewalk Amanda quickly paid the taxi and then they stood gazing at the skyscraper. Marie gave a side glance to the other woman, who stood nervous among the hundreds of pedestrians passing by.

"I know this is a lot to ask of you because you have already helped me so much." Amanda began awkwardly placing a strand of black hair behind her ear. Her shoulders were a bit shrunk and she kept glancing at the concrete ground. The model was uncomfortable and Marie even more so.

"Could you possibly just accompany me to the door? I mean, you don't have to walk me in _to_ the house but just to get past all the elevators and annoying employees without having to go alone?" Marie gave a big sigh, noticing it too late.

"I understand, I have wasted your time enough already." She said with fake glee. "Anyways, it was nice knowing you. I, uh, hope that you'll have a good day, hopefully without any further disturbances from my part." The last few words were apologetic and Marie felt guilty, very guilty. As Amanda started walking toward the revolving glass doors Marie mentally slapped herself and ran after the taller woman.

"Ms. Ross, wait!" She tried refer from yelling as Amanda probably did not want to attract any attention. Though Marie suspected that the fight between her and Bruce Wayne had already reached the tabloids. As she skidded toward the building Amanda stopped and turned, a big smile plastered on her face.

"Thank you." Was all the woman said before they entered. Marie looked at the worn wristwatch, 7:32. Work would start in thirty minutes and she knew she would not make it. She felt a tinge of anxiety creep inside of her, like a knot forming in her stomach. This feeling was not new to her and it often occurred when she procrastinated, especially during her college years. However since graduating the procrastinating had vanished as she had gotten a routine. It was almost like a religion to her because she knew that if she broke it, it would be hard to get back on track. Marie had therefor been thankful that Amanda had gotten up so early so that she might get a chance to arrive in time at work. From what she saw the woman was most definitely not a morning person. Marie reasoned that no one was really a morning person, it all required routine and attention. She never slept in during the weekends because she knew that it would be impossible to get up at her usual 06:00 if she did so.

When they walked in the women were met by a wave of people, all dressed in professional attire. Looking at their phones, going through folders which were carried in their arms or just talking to colleagues. The main desk, a large piece of furniture that was at the back of the vast room, stretched from one end to the other. Marie counted at least seven receptionists, five of which were occupied in phone conversations. The other ones seemed to be as busy as their co-workers for she saw the stressed man and woman writing in a rush behind the desk.

"Maybe we should return at a less hectic hour?" Marie leaned in and whispered, wondering if Wayne Tower ever had a "less hectic hour". Amanda didn't answer and walked up to the desk. It didn't go unnoticed by Marie and almost everyone who paid attention that Ms. Ross was walking as if attending a fashion show. She was showing off. Marie didn't know why she was behaving in such a childish way, maybe it was just to uphold a reputation, Amanda Ross was after all a famous Gotham model, dating Bruce Wayne. She reasoned that she had reason enough to flaunt whatever she wanted, but that did not make it less ridiculous. Although some of the businessmen and other employees thought very differently from Marie as they stared at the swaying hips of the tall woman. Marie hurried in her steps to catch up with the long strides of the other woman. She almost wanted to hide, not really wanting to be associated with Amanda.

Both women reached the desk and Amanda started talking to the petite redhead. After a few words a guard accompanied them to an elevator, he turned the key and the doors opened. Apparently there was a private elevator going all the way up to the penthouse. Marie thought it unnecessary for her to go all the way up. She glanced at the wristwatch again. 7:48 A.M she would not make it in time. All sorts of things went through her head. Maybe they wouldn't notice, or maybe they would and she would be fired on the spot, forced to do the dreaded walk of shame. She had seen it many times and always comforted herself with that she would never have to do it because she was after all a good worker and a valued employee. Or so she had been told during the yearly evaluations at the boss's office. But Marie knew that the short middle aged man rarely paid attention to her, she did what had to be done without any fuss, however that was all she did. She knew he wanted her to have greater ambition. But to be quite honest Marie didn't really know what he meant by that. Maybe he wanted her to be more competitive with the other workers in the office. Though she felt that would only cause unnecessary stress on her part.

As the elevator started ascending these thoughts quickly disappeared from her mind. Amanda was fiddling with her hands. She was even more nervous than before. Marie wondered what was going through her mind, she tried to put herself in her position. Would she be nervous? Probably, from what she had heard the night before she figured that Mr. Wayne would not be especially happy with Amanda Ross. She had made quite a scene after all.

The steel doors opened with a soft ring, announcing that both women were at the penthouse floor. As they stepped out onto white marble floor Marie took in the lavish surroundings. They were standing in a very open and light space, there were not a lot of colors incorporated into the furnishing, only whites, blacks, various browns and beiges. It was very different from her own apartment but Marie liked the simplicity of the designs. By the far end of the room there was a wall made entirely out of glass, or windows. Marie didn't really know what to call it because she had never seen something like it before. The room was probably bigger than she had guessed initially because from a far corner there came an older man. He walked up to them with what she would call very tired steps. The hunched shoulders and tired gaze suggested that the man had not gotten a lot of sleep. As he approached them Marie got her confirmation from the dark circles under the blue, watery eyes. Alas he stood tall, for his advanced age. His hair was as white as snow on a Christmas morning, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth suggested that the man smiled a lot, or at least had for now his demeanor was serious and somehow sad. He had a broad neck and broad shoulders suggesting that he had been quite active and well trained in his youth, perhaps he still was. Marie couldn't really say because he was wearing a thick black knitted sweater over a dress shirt, completing the look with a dull black tie.

"Alfred!" Amanda said quite awkwardly, no doubt the incident from the night before still hung in the air for the older man slightly wrinkled his forehead.

"Ms. Ross." His voice was rough, strong and almost judging. Marie noticed a slight hint of dryness in it. He had only said two words but she suspected that he might have an English accent. The man called Alfred seemed too tired to deal with them. He kept glancing over at her, probably wondering what this random woman, he or Bruce Wayne had never seen before, did in the penthouse.

"I just…" Amanda began, thinking that Alfred would have continued speaking but he just stood there somber and almost impatient, as if wanting the women to go away.

"I need to speak to Bruce." She finally said, glancing past the old man toward the corner he had rounded, as if expecting the owner of the house to show up. But he did not. Marie felt more uncomfortable by the minute.

"I'm afraid that master Bruce is not available for the moment or the near future actually. He is in Europe." Marie could not stop herself from raising an eyebrow at the lie. 'Master Wayne' was not in Europe. He might be unavailable yes, but the man was lying about the whereabouts of Bruce Wayne. He had blinked too much and shifted his weight while fiddling ever so slightly with the fingers of his left hand while telling the lie. Amanda had probably not noticed this because she could see the defeated and hurt expression of the woman beside her.

"Do you know when he will be back? I really need to speak to him about what happened yesterday." Amanda almost begged, her voice cracking. Marie took a few steps back and turned around. She didn't need to see this.

"I'm afraid not Ms. Ross. It might be a while. A few months at least. He asked me to relocate you to one of the hotels that the company owns in the meantime." The voice of Alfred had grown softer with a hint of compassion toward the distressed woman. Marie could almost feel Amanda look down to the floor in defeat.

"No it's okay. I'll just go live with a friend in the meantime, until he returns. But please Alfred. The moment he does you have to let me know okay?" Amanda asked. A few more words were exchanged about her things and where to move them. She would have an answer for him before the end of the day. With that their small visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse was over and they both stepped into the elevator again. As the steel doors closed Amanda leaned to the wall of the elevator to get some support. She sighed.

"Why have I gotten myself into this mess?" She silently said to herself although Marie heard her and her curiosity got the better of her.

"I'm guessing you don't really have any friends here in Gotham?" She said dryly. Amanda scoffed.

"Obviously. But I couldn't say that to Alfred. I've been living with Bruce for like two weeks and going to a hotel just living of their generosity seems wrong. I'm not going back to living with him, I'm going to look for my own place." She said, lost in thought, as if starting to think about where to begin looking for an apartment.

"You don't happen to know anything in your area right? I mean, I kind of like the neighborhood you live in." Amanda smiled toward Marie, who returned the gesture.

"No, not that I know of. But where will you stay until you find something?" Marie kind of knew where this would be going, she had known from the start. She knew Amanda Ross would never ask it because the woman seemed quite proud. However she reasoned that a week or so couldn't hurt. It was true that Marie didn't really like her routine broken but Amanda would probably not get in the way of it.

"Oh I'll probably go to some small hotel in the center of the city." Amanda continued, saying that Grand Hotel was a possibility, or possibly Gotham Main.

"Why don't you stay at my place?" Marie offered. Amanda stared at the woman in front of her with a shocked expression.

"That is a really great offer Ms. Walker but I've only known you for like less than a day. And besides, I wouldn't want to intrude or anything, I mean I already made you late for work."

"Well you already slept on my couch this night. You wouldn't be imposing." Marie said simply, smiling all the time.

"Are you sure?" Marie only nodded. The elevator doors opened with the same soft ring and both women got out. Amanda seemed to have regained her happy composure that Marie had gotten a glimpse of the night before. As they walked through the lobby the taller woman kept talking about things they could do, how she would take her out for a shopping tour, how they could go to the spa. Meanwhile Marie glanced down at her watch 8:13. If she took a cab she would only be thirty minutes late for work.

Outside she hauled a cab and got in, swiftly followed by Amanda.

"I have to work, I get off around 7 or 8 P.M, depending on how much work I have to finish. I don't have any spare keys and to be frank Ms. Ross I know I offered you to stay at my home but we need to be realistic. I barely know you and I can't leave you alone in my house for twelve hours." She felt awkward telling Amanda this but the other woman put up a hand, making her stop.

"I understand entirely, I would do the same thing. I know the street you live on. I'll be there tonight with my things at 9 P.M sharp. I can take the couch tonight again and tomorrow I'll buy a mattress and we can arrange sleeping quarters for me if that is okay for you?" She stated matter of factly. Marie nodded. Maybe she had gotten way in over her head. But she reasoned that it was all for a good cause.

Amanda Ross got out of the cab at Gotham Park, saying she would take a long walk. Marie sat silent the rest of the way to work. A lot had happened in the course of 12 hours. She couldn't believe that she had invited a woman she didn't even know to come stay with her. What was she thinking? God. She felt so stupid. This was why she never did things on impulse. Never. She had lived fine until now. Marie had this underlying feeling that Amanda Ross would mean a change of routine and even a change of the way she lived. Marie did not feel comfortable knowing that. However she had made a promise and she couldn't muster up enough courage to break her promise. She would have to deal with the consequence of her impulsiveness.

When she got out of the cab onto the sunny sidewalk she glanced at her watch for the last time that morning. 8:41, it couldn't be helped. They probably wouldn't even notice that she was 40 minutes late. Marie walked into the red tile brick building and on to the fifth floor like she always had for the last five years. She quickly walked to her cubicle and sat down at her desk that was overstocked with reports and other documents for her to deal with. She sighed internally. She might not have shown up at the designated hour but her coworkers still found ways to put their workload on her. Marie began sorting through the large amounts of paper. By 12:01 she was finished and decided to take a late lunch so she could start calling up the people that were on her list for the day. Two hours and 62 people later, a record for her, Marie decided that she was done and slinked out of the cubicle unnoticed to get lunch. No one had bothered her yet and she guessed that if she kept her head bent down no one would notice that she had come in to the office today.

The warm sun had hidden behind some dark clouds and Marie felt the change of pressure in the air. A storm was coming. They had had a few weeks of sunshine, not a drop of rain had fallen and not a cloud had been spotted in the sky. That was quite unusual for Gotham as the city was usually obscured from any rays most of the year. That was probably why the people were so pale there, pale and with dark circles under their eyes Marie thought.

She continued walking on the hard concrete, keeping her eyes on the ground, not really feeling like looking anyone in the eye at that moment. She didn't want to see what a person had been up to during the morning or the day before. Marie had always been observant. When she got to college to study economy a fellow student had noticed her sharp eyes and asked why she didn't improve her talent. Marie had no idea that there were classes. She only went to three because from what she had learnt from them were enough. After practicing for the first two years of college Marie began to understand that her talent had become quite bothersome, at one point it was almost like reading minds, based off of what she perceived. She figured out that her boyfriend at the time had been cheating on her, her friends started lying to her to avoid spending time with her because most found it uncomfortable in her presence. When Marie finished college she had understood too late that she was supposed to shut up about what she figured out in people. She was left with barely any friends, only people thinking her strange and weird.

She got her first job at the biggest bank in Gotham. She endured three months until she quit, Marie couldn't stand sitting and listen to peoples economic problems while simultaneously seeing sides to people she did not want to see. They got many people form the mob and mafia and she was not a good liar, she became tense around them and hid it poorly. Finally Marie decided to give up on the job. She got a job in the telecommunication service and had since then been sitting in a sad little three walled cubicle. It was still better than having to stare people in the eye for eight hours a day.

She took a left turn and pushed a glass door open to the local sandwich shop. She wouldn't be able to sit and eat her sandwich in the sun that day. Marie ate her lunch slowly. Looking out the window as a few drops of rain collided with the glass, making trails of water after them as they glided down the slippery surface. In a matter of minutes the sky opened up and the streets outside were drenched and people hurried along the sidewalk to get to work or wherever they were going to get out of the rain. She had forgotten her umbrella. Typical. Marie finished her meal and got up. She paused by the door. Her office was only five minutes away, maybe she wouldn't get that drenched if she ran. She pushed the door open, clutched her brown leather bag tightly and ran. It wasn't easy, her beige heels, although not that tall still made it hard for her to run at full speed without tripping. Marie had only been two minutes in the pouring rain and she was drenched to the bone. Her dark blonde tresses molded themselves around her face. She ran into the red brick building, bringing half a lake in with her as she stood in the small lobby. The guard she always smiled at gave her a curious look as she walked toward the stairs. She had some spare clothes in her bags. She would change in the toilet.

The rest of the day was, as usual, very uneventful for Marie. She kept staring at the clock on her computer anxiously waiting to get home. For the first time she was excited about getting home. As the hours slowly ticked by and got closer to eight Marie started packing her things. When the hour finally came she was about to leave when a coworker, Jim Morrison stopped her. He needed her to help him with his computer. She spent half an hour searching for a file on the computer until he remembered that he had saved it onto a flash drive and that it had never been on the computer in the first place. She was about to send him an angry look but she had to get going. Amanda would be waiting for her in less than thirty minutes and she had to prepare the couch. So Marie only took her bag and rushed out to the streets. The sun had started setting and the streetlamps were lit. The warm glow of the last rays of sunshine gave the evening a certain golden tone that Marie had grown to enjoy. It was the best part of getting out of work at that hour. At least at that time of year. During winter dusk came much earlier.

She reached her home and quickly made the couch ready for Amanda. The dark haired woman was on time as the doorbell sounded. She got out and helped the other woman carry her things, mainly clothes, in. When they were done they stored the items in Marie's study, a room she never used. Amanda would be living there for the next week until she had found her apartment. When they were done they both stared at each other. It finally dawned on both of them that their situation was real and that they in fact would be living together.


End file.
